Randall Munroe – American cartoonist and programmer, creator of the webcomic xkcd and the books What If? and Thing Explainer; winner of a Hugo Award for the experimental comic “Time”. A former NASA engineer, he blends science, deadpan humour, and minimalist stick-figure art, turning complex topics into clear, witty visuals that have shaped modern science communication.
🛰️ Worked at NASA’s Langley center on robotics projects. 🗓️ Launched xkcd in 2005 as a personal side experiment. 🔤 Thing Explainer is written using only the 1,000 most common words. 🚀 “Up Goer Five” explains the Saturn V using ultra-simple language. 🕰️ “Time” unfolded over thousands of frames and won a Hugo Award. 🖱️ Every strip hides a playful mouseover alt-text. 📊 His “Radiation Dose Chart” is widely used in classrooms and media. 🗺️ Often reimagines maps and election data with unconventional projections. 📘 How To (2019) and What If? 2 (2022) expanded his universe of curious questions. ✨ Most comics are released under a Creative Commons BY-NC license. 😄 Fun note: “xkcd” isn’t an acronym – he chose it so it wouldn’t date over time.